andres ♔ but what he told me last night lays on me like lead

[affianced]

♬ dear ophelia - abney park

WHO || Buffy, Myri, Finnick, Spike, Kat, Gar, Archer, Des, Rafael, Fred Jr., Vi, Rocket, Lara, Dimitris  [Closed]
WHAT || A diplomatic mission to Andres Isle goes about as successfully as one would guess
WHERE || Andres Isle
WHEN || August 15th  [backdated]
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

Even the briefing for this mission went well, with Wynn walking in on Dragon's Claw Jack Chessing macking on Sir Gar, in direct violation of his vows of, er, abstinence, both romantically and physically.   Following the briefing, and the team's attempts to make Wynn see reason in the face of Jack's resignation, they gathered up a large amount of weapons of all kinds into their private plane and took off for Andres Isle.  

Upon arrival, they found the island did not match up to their expectations.  Instead of fields of torture, they found themselves in a very upscale part of the city, full of affluent manor houses close to the palace.   They spun a cover story upon learning about a party there, using Finnick's celebrity on Andres to get access to the festivities.  

Inside, they met Dimitris Sarandis, Prime Minister of Andres Isle, who invited them to stay for the party, which was being thrown in honor of Countess Lara Tamon, who had helped Jack, Spike and Myri escape from their torment on the Isle.  They took the opportunity to chat up the local aristocracy, picking up the vibe that most of them had either benefited from Dimitris' rise to power, or were too afraid to stand up to him.  Spike talked to the Marquesse de Lyons, and learned that her son, Percy, had been a friend of the late Prince's, and had died shortly after voicing his belief that Sarandis had framed the Andres family in order to seize power.   Archer was shocked to find his manservant Woodhouse employed at the palace, and extra annoyed to learn that he didn't remember him.  For once, Archer found a reason to care about liberating the Andresians... if not purely for selfish reasons.

The party itself was to announce the breaking of the betrothal that had long stood between Lara and the late Prince, even after his death, a blemish on the reputation of the Tamon family that Sarandis sought to rectify by arranging a new betrothal: between Lara and her childhood friend, Lord Michael de Collines (aka Michael Collins).  Neither of them seemed particularly thrilled about the arrangement.  Lara managed to sneak a message to Myri to meet her that night under the bridge.

Following the announcement, the gang went to speak to Sarandis in private and find out his demands for the safe return of Sir Thomas Bancroft.  He wasted no time in making clear his position - he painted the Knight's vigilante attitude towards policing the world as the ultimate evil, and warned that no more Knights would set foot on Andres, lest they be killed.  He also demanded that Wynn himself bring the artifact Excalibur to the island to give to him - so that Dimitris could behead Wynn in exchange for Thomas' life.  The demands were met with outrage by the Knights, and in the face of their fear that Thomas was not even still alive, Sarandis agreed to let one of them stay the night to speak with the Dragon's Claw.   He specified that Kat be the one to stay, and despite protests, she agreed, and convinced Gar to let her stay.  

The other Knights headed back into town, where Gar, Fred Jr., and Vi headed to the nearby hotel to wait to hear from Kat, and be ready in case they should need to reach the palace quickly.  The others headed to the bridge across the river, where they met with Lara and her friend Lord Dana Green, another of her childhood friends.  They explained the situation on the Isle, and how many of the younger generation wished to see things returned to the way they'd been before, but the challenges they faced in doing so seemed almost insurmountable to them.  Lara expressed her fears that toppling Sarandis' rule would only wind up putting Andres in an even worse position.  They also related how Dimitris had created programs and taxes that had basically banished Shadowkind to the other side of the river and left them all but destitute, all while pumping more and more money into the coffers of the rich, particularly those serving on his Parliament.   She secured the Knights' promise to help in every way they could, and Myri asked her to show the way back into the woods where she'd found them before.

Finnick, Archer, and Rafael crossed the bridge into the Shadow village to do some recon, and spoke with a local tavern owner/dwarf who related that people down here were turning up missing more and more often - likely to feed Dimitris' experiments in the woods.  They seemed largely disheartened, but could potentially be talked into fighting if giving the means to do so.

In the woods, the others ran across a strange talking raccoon named Rocket, who was running for his life from a beholder, which the party managed to take down.  They discovered that Rocket had escaped from captivity in Dimitris' labs, and he was none too happy at the prospect of going back, even to show them where it was.  They argued briefly over the best course of action - whether the break out would be the best or worse time to try to make their way into the lab, particularly given that Dimitris had Kat as well now. 

Comments

[bigbad]

He's a dead man.

[It's not like it's new, Spike wanting Sarandis dead, but he 100% means it this time. Sarandis is going to die. And before that, he's going to suffer.]

Don't care what the revolutionary-wannabes say, he's dead. The rest of the country can hang itself.

[beatupgrass]

[You better be damn glad that Rocket's asleep back there, because he would probably punch you in the face.

With this gun.

I mean it wouldn't do any good, but the sentiment is there.

#savedmorecivilianlivesthansuperman.]

[isisagent]

[There's a clink as Archer discards a bloody slug in the aisle.]

Sounds like a mind control chip. [And he plunges the tool back in, digging for more horrible metal bits.]

[He grumbles;] Fucking hollow-points... Anyway, we can fix it we just need to remove it. It's practically outpatient.

[witchwoman]

[As soon as Myri gets on the plane, she is going to head for the bathroom to have a cry. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Now that she doesn't have to front to save face in front of Dimitris she can properly fall apart. She may just spend the whole ride in here.]

[nothingsodivine]

I think the fact that Sarandis has his own pop star with mind whammy and the Mind Master on speed dial will make this a little more complicated than major brain surgery.

[and now that he's done throwing shade at archer, he will get up and follow myri to the bathroom and rap on the door with a knuckle.]

Little Bit? You okay in there?

[slay]

We're really leaving without her?

[ It's not that Buffy begrudges any of them the fact, nor does she miss all the reasons they have to, but numb disbelief creeps out of her in a quiet voice. ]

[graveflowers]

We don't have another choice. [ it's just as quiet and just as distressed as everyone else, but she's pretty firm on that even as she reaches out to squeeze buffy's arm reassuringly, guilty expression not quite disguised by her sadness. ] Before the whole mind whammy thing Kat said she wanted see the look on Sarandis' face when a hundred knights marched onto his island. We're gonna give her that.

[rationalizes]

[ ♬ your only doll - laura marling

gar looks like she's also going to be sick, and she stares back at buffy, the color completely drained from her face, a dull look in her eyes that's rife with guilt. ]

We have to hope that-- [ but she can't even finish that. there is no hope here when it comes to dimitris' moral core. or lack thereof. ]

... We'll just have to act swiftly. Wynn's prepared for this for years. Surely... [ she takes a deep breath, and her eyes skate over to fred, who is clenching and unclenching his probably still broken hand, even as winces against the pain. ] If there were anything we could have done, we would have done it. This is ... it's unconscionable, leaving her behind. Believe me: every inch of me is screaming to go back, to keep him from touching her. But the alternative was to be baited right into what was no doubt a lethal trap.

We're strong, Buffy, but he's smart. Dastardly so. Leaving her doesn't feel right - isn't right - but it's the only intelligent choice we have left. To regroup and return with forces that he can't combat.

We can't afford to-- to react irrationally, with no plan of attack. That's what he thinks of us. That's what he wants from us.

[bigbad]

He's preparing too. And unlike Wynn, he wants this fight. [Spike's slumps in his seat, looking out the window instead of at anyone in particular. Which is pretty depressing, since the window is closed. Why do we keep flying during the day?] He's so bloody smug... doesn't think we can touch him.

[And that's a worrying thought. What if he's right? He certainly got past Kat's defenses in ways Spike wouldn't have thought possible.]

[nepotism]

He's working with Draken Crombe's church, and you guys have been trying to tear down whatever it is they're trying to do for years now. If he draws everyone out and takes down the Knights, that church is gonna stand unopposed.

Don't tell me that's not a motivating factor.

[slay]

[ It's a heavy truth to accept, but there’s no questioning it. They’d been one short step away from an all-out war for the entirety of their trip here courtesy of Dimitris’ chess mastering. Their hands are tied because he’s just too good at playing his game.

They have to be smart. Have to beat him above the table. ]

Seal the cabin door, and we’ll get off the ground.

[ She nods to Fred, then turns to head back into the front of the plane. They’ll leave for now, but this isn’t over. ]